Why Are So Few Financial Assets Indexed to Inflation
探讨了1973-82年高通胀时期美国金融资产为何很少采用通胀指数化，分析了企业、家庭和金融中介的负债创新，并从供需角度解释指数化缺失的原因。
Highly volatile inflation over the past ten years has likely heightened uncertainty about inflation. This uncertainty should have presumably led to a growing number of inflationindexed financial assets. By insulating real earnings from unexpected changes in the price level, such indexation would have guaranteed real rates of return to investors. Although financial assets have become increasingly flexible over the period, surprisingly few inflationindexed assets have emerged. This article addresses the near-absence of inflation-indexed financial assets in the United States. The article surveys the growing flexibility of financial assets in the inflationary 1973-82 period, and examines possible reasons why this flexibility has so seldom taken the form of inflation indexation. The first section describes the mechanics of inflation indexation and illustrates how such indexation could have prevented the negative real rates of return earned over much of the 1973-82 ation are compared and their potential performance evaluated. The second section surveys the increasing flexibility of financial assets in recent years. The analysis focuses on the major liabilities of three broad groups: corporations, households, and financial intermediaries. Among the instruments discussed are floating rate corporate notes, deep-discount and zero-coupon corporate bonds, variable rate business loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and ceiling-free time deposits. With few exceptions, inflation indexation has been missing from recent innovations. Possible explanations for the paucity of inflation-indexed financial assets are explored in the third section. The discussion is guided by consideration of the likely supply and demand motives of corporations, households, and financial intermediaries. The final section offers a summary and concluding remarks. INDEXATION AND INFLATION period. The mechanics of an alternative index- ~~fl~~~~~-~~~~~~ d